Local News

Despite the fact the recent oil spill in the Gulf is hundreds of miles away, Chiefland may experience some negative results in terms of how one of its biggest attractions, the manatee, is affected.

“We are concerned, as everybody else should be," Sally Lieb, Manatee and Fanning Springs state parks manager said in a phone interview Monday. “A coating of oil on the surface of the water is just not something to be considered an environmentally healthy condition.”

Chiefland Police hit the mother lode May 6 while running stationary radar north of town.

A grey Kia was clocked at 73 mph in a 65 mph zone.

The car, driven by Randy David Applegate, 33, of Madeira Beach was pulled over and other officers came to assist. It was then they smelled marijuana.

The K-9 Robiek did an open air drug sniff and alerted at the trunk of the car. Officers searched the car and found marijuana shake (loose leaves, stems and seeds at the bottom of the bag) in the passenger seat.

Publication of Levy County's delinquent tax list starts today in the Chiefland Citizen and while the size — 40 pages — may look daunting, County Tax Collector Linda Fugate says it is not that bad.

"This year, there are only about 226 more (names) than we advertised last year, but considering the economy it's pretty good," Fugate said on Tuesday. She said there are 6,796 listings for real property compared to last year's list of 6,570.

Seth Leon Foster, 22, and Amy Lynn Combs, 28, both of Fanning Springs, were arrested on robbery, burglary and other felony charges after it was reported they took $11 from a 7-year-old girl trying to save her parents, according to a Levy County Sheriff's Office press release.

Foster and Combs went to a residence on Northwest 168th Lane in Fanning Springs where Foster demanded money from two adults and threatened to kill them.

The city commission voted 5-0 in favor of approving the final reading of the city’s Evaluation and Appraisal Report, part of the city’s new comprehensive land use plan, which has been in the process for about two years.

Vice-Mayor Teresa Barron expressed concern over several amendments to the plan made by the Florida Department of Community Affairs after a lengthy review process.

Although Gov. Charlie Crist has included Levy County among 19 counties at risk from an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in an emergency declaration issued last week, there is no local declaration of an emergency in Levy.

The oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that started on April 20 is located approximately 250 miles from Cedar Key and is discharging approximately 210,000 gallons per day. It has been estimated that the leaks have released 3.5 million gallons of oil into the gulf waters.

n Qualifying closed for the Florida congressional races at noon Friday and the Florida Secretary of State's Office has released the list of candidates for the two races in Levy County:

District 5 — Open seat because incumbent Ginny Brown Waite withdrew. Candidates in the Republican primary on Aug. 24 are Richard "Rich" Nugent and Jason Patrick Sager. Unopposed Democrat James John Piccillo will be on the November ballot.

Governor Charlie Crist declared a State of Emergency Monday in Levy and 12 additional counties in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. So far, Christ has declared a State of Emergency in 19 coastal counties along the panhandle and the west coast of Florida.

The oil spill is located approximately 250 miles from Cedar Key and is discharging approximately 210,000 gallons per day.